W. Janssen

Planning agricultural research: a sourcebook.

Trends in agricultural research planning types of planning in agricultural research planning processes tools and instruments in planning.

Setting research priorities: an example from agriculture using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

How should potential research outputs be compared, in order to set priorities, when a diverse range of goals and outputs is possible? This paper introduces a multiple-criteria weighting method, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which can be applied in ex post research evaluation. AHP transforms qualitative subjective judgments into quantitative data (weights). It is a decision analysis technique. The method is illustrated with a simple hypothetical example from a sorghum research program. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

The logical framework.

www.usaid.gov INTRODUCTION The Logical Framework, or LogFrame, is one of the principal tools used by the international development community to help design projects to achieve measurable results. It was pioneered for USAID in the 1970s and has since been widely adopted by multilateral and bilateral agencies, NGOs, governments and implementers. The LogFrame is useful to both managers and evaluators at every stage of the project cycle. It is a vehicle for organizing a large amount of information in a coherent and concise manner, assisting with the design, implementation and evaluation of projects. The process used to develop the LogFrame supports USAID principles of selectivity and focus, evaluation and learning, and adaptation and flexibility. In sum, the LogFrame:

A Regional Approach to Setting Research Priorities and Implementation: Towards Satisfying National, Regional and Global Concerns

ABSTRACT Regionalization of agricultural research across countries has received considerable attention in recent years, with the establishment of regional and sub-regional organizations in most regions. Recently, the CGIAR System has called for a regional approach to research, involving bottom-up priority-setting and implementation, and integrating this with global priority-setting. This paper explores the possibility of developing an approach for research priority-setting that would satisfy national, regional, and global expectations of regionalization and allow the regional and sub-regional organizations to assume a bigger role. The paper also considers how the CGIAR Centres may support this priority-setting process and how they may use it to define their regional activities. A review of existing regional research initiatives shows the many models in use, with different extents of collaboration and with different challenges and promises. Regional priorities can strengthen the relevance of agricultural research in a region or sub-region. A description of a relatively generic approach to establishing regional priorities is presented. Different research organizations that are present in a region can use the research priorities to enable their work, and it is possible for CGIAR Centres to participate in the regional agenda while respecting the global nature of the CGIAR System. The integration of regional priorities into the CGIAR global research agenda is an area in which there is little experience in the CGIAR System. The challenge for the CGIAR is to determine how to maintain a global focus in its agenda, while promoting a coordinated regional approach to research planning and implementation. Priority-setting in the CGIAR will become even more of an ongoing process while the bottom-up regional approach to research planning, priority-setting, and implementation is established in all regions.